Things To Do

Look Back: Archaeological digs in the Williamsburg area

Craig Moran / Daily Press
Diggers strike execution site. Jayme Gianola, crew member with the William & Mary archaeologists, uses a trowel to clean the profile of one of the post holes at the site in Williamsburg
Photo by Nivison
This photo shows some of the old foundations which were uncovered in the course of archaeological excavations. In front of the building part of a wall believed to be the foundations of a wall enclosing the yard of the prison which stood here during the 18th century. Photo by Nivison.
Adrin Snider / Daily Press
Graduate student Jason Boroughs maps the strata of an excavation square in a dig in front of the Wren Building at The College of William and Mary.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Wren Yard Dig, Civil War era artifacts recovered from the dig in the Wren Yard areas. Archaeologists from College of William and Mary are searching for Civil War era artifacts.
Adrin Snider / Daily Press
Field Technician Robin Fehnel holds a clay pipe bowl, a nail and two straight pins unearthed at the dig located near Carter's Grove.
Jonathon Gruenke / Daily Press
Thane Harpole, co-director of the Fairfield Foundation, holds pieces of pottery and glass uncovered during an archaeological survey at New Quarter Park.
Herb Barnes / Daily Press
In 1982 Colonial Williamsburg archaeologist work at a dig behind the Peyton Randolph house on North England Street.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Bray School dig, Archaeologists from Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary are searching for traces of a pioneering black school established during the 1700s. Brent Christensen is working inside the old well with Tim Norton next to Prince George St. in front of Brown Hall as people walk by and ask questions.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Bray School dig, Archaeologists from Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary are searching for traces of a pioneering black school established during the 1700s. Brent Christensen is working inside the old well next to Prince George St. in front of Brown Hall.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Andy Edwards holds up an earthenware pot, one of many found at the dig in the Port Anne subdivision in Williamsburg. (1987)
Daily Press Archives
Paula Lampert pieces together a chamber pot found at the site of the Pulic Hospital in Williamsburg.
Mark St. John Erickson / Daily Press
Virginia Commonwealth University anthropology graduate Crystal Castleberry excavates an 18th-century deposit of oyster shells, animal bones and other artifacts found during the search for evidence from Williamsburg's pioneering Bray School for black children.
Sangjib Min / Daily Press
From left, Evan Rutherford, Ashley Atkins, Tyler Poling and Thomas Cross, College of William and Mary students, excavate artifacts at William and Mary's old Indian school around Brafferton building of the campus in Williamsburg on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Archaeologists from William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg have discovered some tantalizing links to Native students in their summer field school dig at William and Mary's old Indian school, which is undergoing a multi-million-dollar restoration.
Dave Bowman / Daily Press
Lisa Fischer on dig of Hallam theatre
Craig Moran / Daily Press
Archaeologist Jamie E. May of Williamsburg records information from a pit site at the Governor's Land at Two Rivers excavation in James City County recently. The dig may provide valuable data on the lives of the little known Pasbehegh Indians.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Colonial Williamburg may be able to reconstruct a tavern that was popular with the revolutionaries.
Kaitlin McKeown / Daily Press
Men dig at an archaeological site near a ravine just off of Duke of Gloucester Street on April 16, 2014 in Williamsburg.
Daily Press Archives
This photo gvies the best idea of the original "first theatre in the Colonies" foundations. Two buildings in the photo are on the left, Bruton Parish Church and on the right the Wythe House.
Kenneth Silver / Daily Press
Archaeologists examine skull of 350-year-old skeleton unearthed near Jamestown in 1988.
Debra Straszhein / Daily Press
Tara Hannaford and Sarah Hennessy, students from the College of William and Mary, and Albert Cheung of Montana State work in a 17th-century foundation at the Rich Neck Plantation archaeological site. The foundation is believed to be that of a kitchen, and the glazed-tile floor is the only one found in Virginia from that time period.
Daily Press Archives
Hans Barlow removes rust from scissors found at the site of the Public Hospital in Williamsburg.
Kenneth D. Lyons / Daily Press
Ana Tran, an archaeology student at the College of William and Mary, digs away layers of dirt in the old kitchen, which dates to around 1640, at the Holly Hills dig site.
Sangjib Min / Daily Press
Alix Martin, left, and Rachel Bowen, both College of William and Mary students, excavate artifacts at William and Mary's old Indian school around Brafferton building of the campus in Williamsburg on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Archaeologists from William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg have discovered some tantalizing links to Native students in their summer field school dig at William and Mary's old Indian school, which is undergoing a multi-million-dollar restoration.
Dave Bowman / Daily Press
It was Tom Goyens' research on a 225-year-old paper trail that helped Lisa Fischer, project manager of the Hallam Theater, locate the correct area to dig for the theater.
Adrin Snider / Daily Press
Slate pencils, marbles, flint, and a glazed pipe bowl are some of the artifacts recovered from a dig in front of the Wren Building at The College of William and Mary.
Sang-Jib Min / Daily Press
Roxane Gilmore gets her hands dirty at Colonial Williamsburg's Nassau Street archaeological dig.
Jonathon Gruenke / Daily Press
Thane Harpole, co-director of the Fairfield Foundation sifts through dirt looking for historical artifacts during an archaeological survey at New Quarter Park Thursday afternoon.
Sangjib Min / Daily Press
Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists exploring a known 18th-century site off Prince George Street have discovered evidence of a much earlier 17th-century building that reaches back to the time when Williamsburg was known as Middle Plantation.
Daily Press Archives
Archaelolgists work on excavation near the Powder Magazine in Colonial Williamsburg in1989.
Valenda Campbell / Daily Press
Charles Hodges compares a brown billhook with reference book drawings while excavating at Governor's Land Two Rivers development Sunday.
Kenneth D. Lyons / Daily Press
Andrew Butts, right, an archaeologist and graduate student at the College of William and Mary,scrapes away layers of soil Friday morning to expose pieces of an old building on the campus. W&M student Bryan Lewis lends a hand in the tedious work.
Craig Moran / Daily Press
W&M archaeologists uncovered the site of a Colonial gallows - possibly the Virginia colony's death penalty center from 1699 to 1781 - on Maynard Drive in Williamsburg.
Susan Robertson / Daily Press
William & Mary students uncover evidence of a neo-colonial planting scheme at the Brafferton.
Herb Barnes / Daily Press
In 1982 Colonial Williamsburg archaeologist work at a dig behind the Peyton Randolph house on North England Street. Here Cecile Gashell softs through some dirt from the site.
Sangjib Min / Daily Press
These pieces of 18th century German salt glaze are buried at the trash pits of the site to an 18th-century builder's complex excavated nearby beneath SunTrust Bank parking lot off Prince George Street in Williamsburg on Thursday, October 19, 2007.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Archaeologists have been excavating the former site of the Armistead House - shown Thursday - looking for clues about the legendary Colonial tavern known as the Coffeehouse.
Dennis Tennant / Daily Press
Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists start digging in the cemetery behind Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in 1992.
Adrin Snider / Daily Press
Audrey Horning-Kossler, center, places dirt excavated from the 1600 site into a bucket for further examination, as Dagmar Von Toal, left, and Beth Anderson bag dirt at the dig located near Carter's Grove.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Wren Building's 18th-century formal garden excavations in front of the Wren Building at College of William & Mary yield convincing evidence of that garden ... tree posts, marl pathway and such. Steve Archer Research Asso. for C.W. leads the dig in the southeast corner of the Wren yard near the Brafferton Kitchen building. (Left) Scott Babinowich works inside one of the dig squares where the brick and ashline are uncovered as (Right) Mary Wakeman-linn write down notes.
Buddy Norris / Daily Press
Archaeologists have found what could be the largest and best preserved trades complex in Williamsburg in the area of Boundary and Prince George streets behind the Sacalis building, which is the large brick building in the upper left corner.
Kenneth Silver / Daily Press
Orignal foundation of the Public Hospital in Colonial Williamsburg.
Kaitlin McKeown / Daily Press
During a dig exploring a ravine at one end of Duke of Gloucester Street, archaeologists have found a deposit of bricks that may date back to as early as the first Capitol building.
David Bowman / Daily Press
Amy Kowalski, Greg Brown, and Dave Huraca examine the area they searched for the foundation of an 18th century market.
Kenneth D. Lyons / Daily Press
Mary Faye Randolph, a volunteer and history teacher from Texas, sifts through soil searching for artifacts at an old building foundation discovered at William and Mary.
PiChi Chuang / Daily Press
Students of William and Mary Archaeological field school, , Molley Brisendine, foreground left, and Victoria Young, foreground right, dig at the Wren Yard at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Thursday, July 28, 2005. The Wren Yard Archaeological Project is searching for evidence of the colonial-era garden features in front of the College of William and Mary's Christopher Wren Building.
Buddy Norris / Daily Press
Quintina Fields, an archaeologist with Colonial Williamsburg, works on the remains of an outbuilding at the archaeologiacal dig behind sacalis house. At right are cellar steps.
Buddy Norris / Daily Press
Michael Collier looks through 17th century artifacts that are in a box used to dry them after washing. They are some of the artifacts that were found at the Grove site. Collier is a Lab Tech. Looking on is David Muraca, Staff Archaeologist.
DaveBowman / Daily Press
William Pittman curator of archaeological collections at Colonial Williamsburg uses cotton gloves while examining the knife-blade-looking object archaeologists are calling "one of those" since they have no idea what it is.
Daily Press Archives
Whitney Selfe and Bill Pittman wash artifacts found at the site of the Public Hospital in Williamsburg.
David Bowman / Daily Press
John Metz, an archaeology supervisor for Colonial Williamsburg, looks through 18th-century artifacts found behind Bruton Heights School.
Sangjib Min / Daily Press
Artifacts found at William and Mary's old Indian school are placed at Brafferton building of the campus in Williamsburg on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Archaeologists from William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg have discovered some tantalizing links to Native students in their summer field school dig at William and Mary's old Indian school, which is undergoing a multi-million-dollar restoration.
Daily Press Archives
Fragments from a set of transfer printed British creamware found in Williamsburg.
Kenneth Silver / Daily Press
Site of the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery. (1982)
Daily Press Archives
Colonial Williamsburg archaeologist Mark Kostro explores the site of the Hallam Theater, an 18th century building that stood just east of the Capitol. Kostro is shown digging in the vicinity of the stage, with what would have been the auditorium extending toward the top of the photograph.
Kenneth D. Lyons / Daily Press
This overhead view shows a large portion of Rich Neck Plantation, which is being unearthed in the Holly Hills subdivision in Williamsburg. The large hole is one of two kitchen cellars, with an older kitchen portion to the left.
Joe Fudge / Daily Press
Wren Yard Dig, Civil War era artifacts recovered from the dig in the Wren Yard areas. Top - Bone, pottery, nails. Botton - Two Buttons, marble and Mimi Ball.
Mark St. John Erickson/Daily Press
Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists are looking for evidence of the 1757 Market House in Market Square near the reconstructed guardhouse.
Herb Barnes / Daily Press
In 1982 Colonial Williamsburg archaeologist work at a dig behind the Peyton Randolph house on North England Street.

of

By Virginia Gazette and Virginia Gazette staff

PUBLISHED: December 22, 2015 at 12:02 p.m. | UPDATED: August 10, 2019 at 9:23 a.m.

There have been numerous archaeological digs in the Williamsburg area. Here are photos from the Daily Press archives of some of those digs.